Three Apple Trees
by puredark
Summary: The black-haired boy with the bright green eyes had always been a mystery to the young and curious girl; he was always there, always close. If Harry Potter and Hermione Granger had been neighbours in Little Whinging, Surrey.


**Disclaimer:** All characters belong to JK Rowling. No infringement intended.

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Tree House**

 _HANSEL AND GRETEL_

 _Once upon a time, on the edge of a great forest, there lived a very poor woodcutter with his wife and his two children, Hansel and Gretel. His second wife often ill-treated the children and was forever nagging the woodcutter. The family had little enough to eat, and once there was a great famine in the land the man could no longer even get them their daily bread. 'There is not enough food in the house for us all. There are too many mouths to feed! We must get rid of the two brats,' she declared. And she kept on trying to persuade her husband to abandon his children in the forest._

 _'Take them miles from home, so far that they can never find their way back! Maybe someone will find them and give them a home.' The downcast woodcutter didn't know what to do. Hansel who, one evening, had overheard his parents' conversation, comforted Gretel._

 _'Don't worry! If they do leave us in the forest, we'll find the way home,' he said. And slipping out of the house he filled his pockets with little white pebbles, then went back to night long, the woodcutter's wife harped on and on at her husband till, at dawn, he led Hansel and Gretel away into the forest. But as they went into the depths of the trees, Hansel dropped a little white pebble here and there on the mossy green ground. At a certain point, the two children found they really were alone: the woodcutter had plucked up enough courage to desert them, had mumbled an excuse and was gone. Night fell but the woodcutter did not return. Gretel began to sob too felt scared but he tried to hide his feelings and comfort his sister. 'Don't cry, trust me! I swear I'll take you home even if Father doesn't come back for us!' Luckily the moon was full that night and Hansel waited till its cold light filtered through the trees. The moon was shining bright as day, and the white pebbles glittered like new silver coins._

 _'Now give me your hand!' he said. 'We'll get home safely, you'll see!' The tiny white pebbles gleaming in the moonlight showed the children their way home. They crept through a half-open window, without wakening their parents. Cold, tired but thankful to be home again, they slipped into bed._

 _Next day, when their stepmother discovered that Hansel and Gretel had returned, she went into a rage. Stifling her anger in front of the children, she locked her bedroom door, reproaching her husband for failing to carry out her orders. The weak woodcutter protested, torn as he was between shame and fear of disobeying his cruel wife. The wicked stepmother kept Hansel and Gretel under lock and key all day with nothing for supper but a sip of water and some hard bread. All night, husband and wife quarreled, and when dawn came, the woodcutter led the children out into the forest. Hansel, however, had not eaten his bread, and as he walked through the trees, he left a trail of crumbs behind him to mark the way. But the little boy had forgotten about the hungry birds that lived in the forest. When they saw him, they flew along behind and in no time at all, had eaten all the crumbs. Again, with a lame excuse, the woodcutter left his two children by themselves. 'I've left a trail, like last time!' Hansel whispered to Gretel, consolingly. But when night fell, they saw to their horror, that all the crumbs had gone. 'I'm frightened!' wept Gretel bitterly. 'I'm cold and hungry and I want to go home!'_

 _'Don't be afraid. I'm here to look after you!' Hansel tried to encourage his sister, but he too shivered when he glimpsed frightening shadows and evil eyes around them in the darkness. All night the two children huddled together for warmth at the foot of a large tree. When dawn broke, they started to wander about the forest, seeking a path, but all hope soon faded. They were well and truly lost. On they walked and walked, till suddenly they came upon a strange cottage in the middle of a glade._

 _'This is chocolate!' gasped Hansel as he broke a lump of plaster from the wall. 'And this is icing!' exclaimed Gretel, putting another piece of wall in her mouth. Starving but delighted, the children began to eat pieces of candy broken off the cottage._

 _'Isn't this delicious?' said Gretel, with her mouth full. She had never tasted anything so nice._

 _'We'll stay here,' Hansel declared, munching a bit of nougat. They were just about to try a piece of the biscuit door when it quietly swung open._

 _'Well, well!' said an old woman, peering out with a crafty look. 'And haven't you children a sweet tooth? Come in! Come in, you've nothing to fear!' went on the old woman. Unluckily for Hansel and Gretel, however, the sugar candy cottage belonged to an old witch, her trap for catching unwary victims. The two children had come to a really nasty place_

 _'We'll get to work on that,' said Hansel, 'and have a real feast. I'll eat a piece of the roof. Gretel, you can eat some of the window-that will taste real sweet.'_

 _Hansel reached up and broke off a little of the roof, to see how it tasted, and Gretel went up tot he windowpane and nibbled on it. Then a shrill voice called out from inside the house:_

 _'Nibble, nibble, little mouse,_

 _Who is nibbling at my house?'_

 _The children answered:_

 _'It is not I; it is not I_ _—_

 _It is the wind, the child of the sky.'_

 _And they went on eating without stopping. The roof tasted awfully good to Hansel, so he tore off a great big piece of it, and Gretel pushed out a whole round windowpane, and sad down and really enjoyed it._

 _All at once the door opened, and a woman as old as the hills, leaning on crutches, cam creeping out. Hansel and Gretel were so frightened that they dropped what they had in their hands. But the old woman just nodded her head and said: 'My, my you dear children, who has brought you here? Come right in and stay with me. No harm will befall you.'_

 _But the old woman had only pretended to be so friendly, really she was a wicked witch who lay in wait for children, and had built the house of bread and sugar just to lure them inside. Witches have red eyes and can't see far, but they have a keen sense of smell, like animals, so that they can tell whenever human beings are near. When a child came into her power she would kill it, cook it, and eat it. She took both of them by the hand and led them into her little house. Then she set nice food before them-milk and pancakes with sugar, apples, and nuts. After that she made up two beautiful white beds for them, and Hansel and Gretel lay down in them and thought they were in be a real feast for her._

 _Early in the morning, before the children were awake, she was already up, and when she saw both of them fast asleep and looking so darling, with their rosy fat cheeks, she muttered to herself: 'That will be a nice bite!' Then she seized Hansel with her shriveled hands and shut him up in a little cage with a grating in the lid, and locked it; and scream as he would, it didn't help him any. then she went to Gretel, shook her till she woke up, and cried, 'Get up, you lazy creature, fetch some water and cook your brother something good. He has to stay in the cage and get fat. As soon as he's fat I'll eat him.' Gretel began to cry as if her heart would break, but it was all no use. She had to do what the wicked witch told her to do._

 _Now the finest food was cooked for poor Hansel, but Gretel got nothing but crab shells. Every morning the old woman would creep out to the cage and cry, 'Hansel put your finger out so I can feel whether you are getting fat.' But Hansel would put out a bone, and the old woman's eyes were so bad that she couldn't tell that, but thought it was Hansel's finger, and she just couldn't understand why he didn't get fat._

 _When four weeks had gone by and Hansel still was as thin as ever, she completely lost patience, and was willing to wait no longer. 'Come on Gretel, hurry up and get some water! Whether he's fat or think, tomorrow I'll kill Hansel and cook him.'_

 _Oh, how the poor little sister did grieve as she had to get the water, and how the tears ran down her cheeks._

 _'Light the oven,' she told Gretel. 'We're going to have a tasty roasted boy today!' A little later, hungry and impatient, she went on: 'Run and see if the oven is hot enough. First we'll bake,' said the old woman. 'I've already heated the oven and kneaded the dough.' She pushed poor Gretel up to the oven, out of which the flames were already shooting up fiercely. 'Crawl in,' said the witch, 'and see whether it's got hot enough for us to put the bread in.' And when Gretel was in, she'd close the oven and Gretel would be baked, and then she'd eat her too. But Gretel saw what she was up to, and said: 'I don't know how to. How do I get inside?'_

 _'Goose, Goose!' cried the witch angrily, 'the oven is big enough-why, look, I can even get in myself,' and she scrambled up and stuck her head in the oven. Then Gretel gave her a tremendous push, so that she fell right in, and Gretel shut the door and fastened the bolt. Oh, then she began to howl in the most dreadful way imaginable, but Gretel ran away, and the wicked witch burned to death miserably._

 _Gretel ran to set her brother free as fast as she could, opened the cage, and creid, 'Hansel, we are saved! The old witch is dead!' Hansel sprang out like a bird from its cage when the door is opened. How they did rejoice, and trow their arms around each other's necks, and dance around and kiss each other! Since there wasn't anything to fear, they went inside the witch's house. They ate some more of the house, until they discovered amongst the witch's belongings, a huge chocolate egg. Inside lay a casket of gold coins and precious stones. 'These are better than pebbles,' said Hansel, and stuck as many in his pocket as he could. 'The witch is now burnt to a cinder,' said Hansel, 'so we'll take this treasure with us.'_

 _They filled a large basket with food, stuffed the precious stones and coins in their pockets, and set off into the forest to search for the way home. This time, luck was with them. A little white duck came to their aid as they tried to cross a wide lake. The little white duck carried them, one by one, safely, to the other side. Pretty soon they came to a wood that kept looking more and more familiar, and at last in the distance they saw their father's house. Then they started to run, burst into the living room, and threw themselves on their father's neck. Since he had left the children in the forest, he had not had a single happy hour. Their father said, weeping, 'Your stepmother is dead. You are with me now, my dear children!' The two children hugged the woodcutter. Gretel shook out her apron, and pearls and precious stones rolled all over the room, and Hansel threw down out of his pocket one handful after another. 'Look, Father! We're rich now... You'll never have to chop wood again and we'll never be hungry again.' And they all lived happily together ever after._

* * *

The little girl was sitting on her bed, the old and big book on her lap. Her face was nearly pressing against the pages as she tried to take in every single word as deeply as possible. She was hiding under her beloved blue-ish blanket, reading her favourite fairy tale for the hundredth time.

'Hermione!' a voice called out, suddenly.

Hermione Granger jumped up, her heart racing quickly. She had completely forgotten that she was still sitting in her little bedroom and not joining Hansel and Gretel in their escape from the old witch.

A tall man with soft brown eyes and glasses opened the white door to the girl's bedroom, frowning, just as she came out from under the blue blanket, staring at her father with big eyes.

'Hermione,' he said, sighing with a smile. 'You've been reading that fairy tale for the whole morning. Don't you want to come and have finally breakfast with your mum and dad?'

Hermione pressed her small lips together, throwing a tiny glance at the book in her lap. 'But, _dad_ , I haven't reached the end yet.'

'My dear little girl, we've reached the end together when I read this story for the very first time with you.'

'Yes, _but_...'

'Hermione, I have a surprise for you, you know. I'm not sure if I'm going to show it to you, yet... Perhaps you'd rather have me cancel your surprise?' he said, grinning and slowly closing the door.

' _No_!' the girl screamed. 'I'm coming, I'm coming!'

* * *

'A tree house,' Mr Granger said, a broad smile on his friendly and loving face. His soft brown hair was illuminated in a warm golden colour while the sun was shining down on them. His hand held tight onto his only child's.

The two of them stepped closer. Hermione stared at the three apple trees carrying a little home in awe, her little mouth opened and her eyes twinkling.

'Daddy! It's _beautiful_!' she exclaimed, her voice high.

'I'm happy to hear that, my sweetheart,' he answered softly. 'It's all for you. I thought that perhaps you'd like to read all of your favourite books up there instead of hiding in your room for most of the time.'

'Oh, _yes_! Can we go up there, dad? Now? I want to see it!'

'Of course, my girl,' Mr Granger chuckled, walking over to the tall wooden ladder next to the trees.

Hermione ran to his side and started climbing before her father, ignorant to a specific pair of watching green eyes.

When she reached the end of the ladder, she stormed into the surprisingly rather big room; there was the old blue but fluffy couch Mr Granger got from his mother, carpets and pillows covering the wooden floor, a small table with two chairs and a perfect place for her many books and pen and paper. The room obtained two simple windows and was lit into a golden, comforting atmosphere.

Hermione hadn't noticed her father kneeling beside her, watching his young daughter's face that was drawn by overwhelming happiness, her typical curiosity and a certain amount of excitement.

Suddenly, the girl turned around to face the man, tears starting to fill the eyes she had inherited from him. 'Thank you, daddy! You're the best,' she said silently, throwing herself into his arms and covering his face with her bushy brown hair.

'You're welcome, Hermione. Why don't you go get your books and all that stuff to decorate your new little house? It needs a more personal touch, don't you think?'

'Oh, yes! Thanks, dad!'

Hermione smiled at him before climbing down the ladder and running back into the house, being followed by observant eyes.

Fifteen minutes later, she had pushed all the books she loved to read the most, her beloved teddy Albert and her favourite blanket which her mother had given her when she was just a toddler, into a big and heavy bag. Carefully and moaning, Hermione carried her belongings into the garden before slipping them onto the grass due to exhaustion.

Hermione sighed, looking up to the tree house and considering her ability to get her things up there safely and successfully.

She didn't want to waste any minute and instead of calling out for her dad, she grabbed the bag again and started to climb up to her newest favourite place. She wasn't as quick as before and she was also beginning to sweat this time, but she was almost there; only a few steps.

Hermione reached out for the end of the ladder but didn't succeed; her hand grabbed into thin air. Shocked, her heart skipped a beat when she lost her balance and found herself falling backwards.

She pressed her brown eyes tightly together, hoping it wouldn't hurt too bad – but there was no pain; she was almost flying, slowly, slowly falling backwards and after a few metres, landing on a sitting position, grass between her fingers.

'That was luck,' an unfamiliar voice said suddenly.

The girl jumped, her bushy head spinning around to seek the source of the sounds.

A messy black-haired boy with bright green eyes and glasses peaked from between the fence on her left.

He was pale, thin and only a little taller than she was; he looked different from the boys in her school. Like he didn't have much fun in his life, like he wouldn't eat healthy and regularly, like he wasn't enjoying a loving relationship with anyone.

Hermione stared at him; she had seen him before. He was the other boy from the Dursleys but she was certain that he was a lot more different from that awful Dudley Dursley lad who always mocked her for her bushy hair, her long front teeth and her love for books.

'You scared me!' said Hermione.

The boy's expression didn't alter; he just stared at her with a weird look in his bright eyes. 'That happened to me once, too.'

'What?'

He didn't answer.

' _Hermione_! What happened?' the voice of her father appeared. He was looking at the full bag next to his daughter while picking her up. 'Hermione, why didn't you call me? Have you hurt yourself?'

'No, I'm fine, dad. Sorry.'

'It's OK, just call me the next time you want to take something up there, alright? Or your mum's gonna murder your dad,' he said with a small smile on his face, before taking the bag and climbing up the ladder to the tree house.

Hermione turned around to the white fence.

The boy with the untidy hair was gone.


End file.
